[Career Explorer]What did I do Wrong!?

http://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=11&nav=messages&webtag=bw-bschools&tid=74497
Q:
With the application increase this year, I am really losing hope on my chance to get in an MBA class of 2010. I know that my mainweakness is my GMAT i score high in quant and extremely low in verbal total to 650 and even worse I am an international student. But I thought i had good background 3.54 UG/currently 3.5yrs work exp in Brokerage firm in the US/ co manage a small manufacturer in Thailand/ and a couple volunteer experience that are actually meaningful to me as a person. Also I have a clear goal of where i want to be post MBA and my ultimate goal is to better lives of people in South East Asia thru my consulting firm and I thought they would look over my flaw for my unique background. BUT AGAIN....I got dinged from CHicago and Wharton ALREADY and now I wonder how will i make it at YALE, CORNELL, DARDEN, MIT, and DUKE???? I'm thinking of studying for gmat and get my score up to 730+ , but seriously guys, what are my chances of the rest of the schools I apply to? and Plus I cant reapply unless i know what i did wrong beside the GMAT part? This is costing me some serious money and heartache already hmmm Pls Advice!

A:
You did nothing wrong, but frankly not in the main battle field. Even you get a 730 in GMAT, you're still not in the core competition since your work experience is still too weak compare to the almost-6-yr-in-average pool. Even a 9-yr may get a ding. GMAT is essential but not critical, instead it's your career path, the overall quality of essays for fit programs, and the deep touch of your life. Those extracurriculars are not like a check list but how you interpret the love of your life.

You have several key fields regarding your overall application package need to be improved, despite your GMAT score and work experience. First is your career objectives and the "fit" of an MBA program. The schools you applied are dramatically different in either their positionings or strengths. They reflect your career objectives and goals must be quite blur that the fit schools didn't emerge by themselves. This issue alone can fail you in any application.

Second is your myth. MBA is not a goal, it's a training process. The best schools have the most resources and highest quality faculty, but it doesn't mean you know how to use it. Harvard is a great title to make you a bigger chance to have interviews, but recruiters hire people because of you, not the school name.

Third is your competitiveness. If only 2 dings from those heaven schools can frustrate you like this, you might feel very lucky to be dinged. In those schools, every second is war. If you've been to Harvard, you'll feel the extreme tension starts from the sub station. You can sense a very uncomfortable atmosphere that about 3 people out of 10 don't dare to look at you in the eyes, even you're only a tourist. It's very clear that many of them their confidences are completely crashed by other extremely competent classmates. It's pretty easy to meet someone with full score GMAT or TOEFL on campus, or both, and others have Ph.D already or Olympic titles. Just walk through the cafe shop you'll see the case page they study is all in black that hundreds lines of notes. How can they get a 650 GMAT? It has to be 800!! If you're not from another planet also, don't even try to ruin your life. There're good reasons that recruiters like big titles, but also better reasons to hate them.

The last one is your attitude. Career competence is intrinsic that lies in your personality and your capabilities, not extrinsic from a school name or from a score. You perform extracurriculars for those needed people, not for a school admission. People success by themselves, not given by others. Schools have different positionings and it depends on which one is your true fit, also how smart you leverage it. People not from top schools don't need to die, instead they have better agility and flexibility that no need to compete with imposible rivals and have more time to focus on their own paths.